Ed Joyce will be a star attraction on the Ireland side

Up for grabs are five places for the 2007 ICC World Cup in the West Indies where teams will dine at the high table with aristocracy of cricket.

Each of the 12 competing nations will play five matches in the crucial group stages of the competition which starts on 1 July in Northern Ireland.

The knock-out stages move across the border to Dublin and the overall winner could benefit to the tune of �500,000.

All but one of the five World Cup spots will be settled at the group stages with the top two teams in each section having reason to celebrate. The fifth and final place will be fought out on 11 July in Dublin.

There will be 16 teams for the next global tournament that will include the 10 Test-playing nations plus Kenya who have received automatic qualification as they play official one-day internationals.

There have been five winners of the ICC Trophy with three of those teams having since been elevated to Test status; Sri Lanka (1979), Zimbabwe (1982, 1986, 1990), United Arab Emirates (1994), Bangladesh (1997) and Holland (2001).

UAE and Holland are back again in opposing groups, but even they will be wondering what the obvious strengths of their opponents are.

If the last two tournaments are anything to go by when they conceived a last-ball finish on both occasions it should be exciting and right down to the wire.

Four years ago Holland defeated Namibia by two wickets and along with Canada they went through to the ICC World Cup.

Group A
Bermuda, Denmark, Ireland, Uganda, UAE, USA.

BERMUDA

There is more than a touch of calypso cricket about Bermuda with former West Indies opening bat Gus Logie as their national coach.

The player to watch out for is prolific skipper Clay Smith who has a record three centuries under his belt in the annual island tournament where cricket is the national sport.

Bermuda also have one of the characters of the tournament in 20 stone plus Dwayne "Sluggo" Leverock who is his team's leading wicket-taker with his left-arm spin.

DENMARK

Denmark have a great history of cricket dating back to the 1860s and in former Derbyshire quickie Ole Mortensen they have a hero to worship.

Like a number of teams in the tournament they have an influx of Asian players with Kent's Amjad Khan a useful all-rounder.

The player to watch is 23-year-old left-handed opener and wicket-keeper Frederik Klokker who is the son of the Danish coach.

IRELAND

Of all the teams involved in the tournament, hosts Ireland have probably improved the most over the past four years.

They were bitterly disappointed in their eighth finish in the 2001 event, but a record-breaking run of 10 successive victories has seen them rise to the top in the past two seasons.

With England Test hopeful Ed Joyce having been released by Middlesex for the group stages, Ireland batting strength is extremely strong.

Having defeated Zimbabwe by 10 wickets, Surrey, and the West Indies in the past two seasons, Ireland are one of the favourites for outright victory in the tournament.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

USA's Clayton Lambert is the oldest player in the tournament at 43

Two West Indian Test players feature prominently in the USA team. Clayton Lambert is the mainstay of the batting line-up and coach Fapid Bacchus who played for the States in the 1997 ICC Trophy.

Skipper Richard Staple is a useful all-rounder and learned his trade playing for his native Jamaica.

Experience runs right through the US team with Aijaz Ali, 36, playing in his fourth tournament and 39-year-old Pakistan-born Nasir Javed a wily leg-break bowler.

UGANDA

Uganda have continued to build on their form of the 2001 tournament when they finish top of Division 2B with five wins out of five.

An inventive youth policy has seen promising players coming through the ranks including skipper Joel Olwenyi.

At 24 he is a fine attacking batsman who has also represented his country at hockey, basketball and, ... darts. Watch out to for veteran Bidoni Nehal who made his debut 12 years ago and brings vital experience to the side.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The UAE won the ICC Trophy back in 1994 at the first time of asking when they travelled to Kenya as rank outsiders.

They will again be a force to be reckoned with a mixture of elegant batting and tight bowling.

Players to look our for are all-rounder Khuram Khan a consistent run-getter and slow left-arm spin, as well as Ali Assad Abbas, the main wicket-taker in the 2004 Inter-continental Cup.

Group B
Canada, Holland, Namibia, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Scotland

CANADA

Canada's John Davison hit a century in 61 balls a gainst the West Indies

Canada have one record holder in their camp who could set the place alight. The Maple Leafs big-hitting captain John Davison holds the ICC World Cup record for the fastest century.

He tanked the West Indies in South Africa two years ago hitting three figures of 61 balls and including six sixes.

Canada are also the only ICC Trophy side to win a World Cup match when they defeated Bangladesh in 2003.

HOLLAND

It is ironic that when Holland famously defeated an Australian captain by the name of Bobby Simpson some 40 years ago, little did they know he would be back coaching them.

They won the last ICC Trophy and are again one of the favourites to qualify. Star of their show is 22-year-old Daan van Bunge who is captain of the MCC Youth team and an elegant opening bat.

Captain the side is hard-hitting left-hand striker Luuk van Troost who is also a useful medium pacer.

NAMIBIA

Namibia are keen to qualify for their second ICC World Cup after finishing runners-up to Holland in 2001 Trophy.

Skipper Deon Kotze is a useful all-rounder as is JB Burger who scored 85 against England in the last World Cup and scored a century against Kenya in the same tournament.

They are team with a mix of youth and experience with teenager Nicholaas Scholtz a player to watch with his useful "Chinaman".

OMAN

Oman surprised everyone when they took second place in the ACC Trophy in Kuala Lumpur to qualify for the Ireland trip.

They will be rank outsiders to progress but will be encouraged by the form of all-rounder Hemin Desai who opens the batting and the bowling.

Their coach is former Indian Test player Sandeep Patil who was a member of the ICC World Cup wining team in 1983.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Cricket is slowly developing in Papua New Guinea but their natural talents are beginning to show through. It is mainly a village game back home but there are signs that it is blossoming.

Their captain is Rarua Boge a more than useful right-hand bat and medium pacer. Christopher Amini is part of the Kent bowling set-up and a useful lower-order batsman.

The experience comes from Toka Gaudi, a left-arm paceman who has taken part in the last three ICC Trophies.

SCOTLAND

Scotland are another of the favourites hoping to qualify again for the big stage. They finished third back in 2001 and are expected to equal or better that mark in Ireland.

With four players with English county experience, Dougie Brown, John Blain, Gavin Hamilton and Kyle Coetzer, Scotland must fancy their chances on the slow wickets that are likely to prevail.

Leading the side is Craig Wright, fine batsmen who can also turn his arm over with medium pace.

Group fixtures (Northern Ireland)
(All games start 1045 BST)
Friday, 1 July
Ireland v Bermuda (Stormont)
Denmark v Uganda (Muckamore)
United Arab Emirates v USA (Downpatrick)
Netherlands v Papua New Guinea (Osborne Park)
Scotland v Oman (Shaw's Bridge)
Namibia v Canada (Woodvale)

Saturday, 2 July
Ireland v Uganda (Comber)
Denmark v USA (Armagh)
United Arab Emirates v Bermuda (Lisburn)
Netherlands v Oman (Carrickfergus)
Scotland v Canada (Bangor)
Namibia v Papua New Guinea (Newforge)

Monday, 4 July
Ireland v United Arab Emirates (Stormont)
Denmark v Bermuda (Cliftonville)
Uganda v USA (Lurgan)
Netherlands v Namibia (Osborne Park)
Scotland v Papua New Guinea (Shaw's Bridge)
Oman v Canada (Muckamore)

Tuesday, 5 July
Ireland v USA (Waringstown)
Denmark v United Arab Emirates (Bangor)
Uganda v Bermuda (Comber)
Netherlands v Canada (Eglinton)
Scotland v Namibia (Limavady)
Oman v Papua New Guinea (Drummond)

Thursday, 7 July
Ireland v Denmark (Bangor)
Uganda v United Arab Emirates (Lurgan)
USA v Bermuda (Waringstown)
Netherlands v Scotland (Stormont)
Oman v Namibia (Comber)
Canada v Papua New Guinea (Downpatrick)

Semi-finals and finals (Dublin)
Saturday, 9 July semi-final 1:
1st Group A v 2nd Group B (Clontarf)
Semi-final 2:
2nd Group A v 1st Group B (The Hills)
Semi-final 3: 3rd Group A v 4th Group B (Malahide)
Semi-final 4: 4th Group A v 3rd Group B (North County)
Semi-final 5: 5th Group A v 6th Group B (Leinster)
Semi-final 6: 6th Group A v 5th Group B (Merrion)

Monday, 11 July 3rd-4th place:
Loser SF1 v Loser SF2 (Malahide)
5th-6th place:
Winner SF3 v Winner SF4 (Clontarf)
7th-8th place:
Loser SF3 v Loser SF4 (The Hills)
9th-10th place:
Winner SF 5 v Winner SF6 (North County)
11th-12th place:
Loser SF5 v Loser SF6 (Rathmines)